Judge rejects prosecution request to ban man from Maine island

ROCKLAND, Maine — A 32-year-old North Haven man will be able to return home, a judge ruled Friday.

Judge Barbara Raimondi rejected a request by Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Jones who asked Harold D. Sandelin Jr. be prohibited from returning to North Haven while a charge of violating a protective order is pending.

Sandelin was arrested earlier this week after a woman reported he verbally accosted her July 4. The woman lives in a residence owned by Sandelin. She told police he came over July 4, harassed her and told her she was not to have anyone else stay at his house, according to an affidavit filed in Rockland District Court.

The court previously granted the woman a protection order that barred Sandelin from having contact with her.

The woman and Sandelin have a child together.

Sandelin lives 300 feet from the victim’s residence, and Jones argued police would have no way to enforce the protection order if he is allowed to return and live there. The prosecutor also pointed out Sandelin has convictions for violating conditions of release in 2006 and 2013, as well as an assault conviction in 2006 and disorderly conduct in 2013.

Defense attorney Christopher MacLean said the requested prohibition was not reasonable or warranted. He said his client lives on the island and works there as a lobsterman and a caretaker.

“He would lose his livelihood,” MacLean said.

MacLean also claimed the woman made the complaint as a pre-emptive strike to avoid being evicted.

Judge Raimondi set bail at $1,000 cash and said Sandelin must sign a Maine pre-trial contract before he can be released from jail.